Every state in the United States requires some form of automobile insurance. By law, you must have at least property damage liability if you are driving a car on public roads. With so many people constantly on the roads, there’s a lot at stake if an accident occurs. For automobile insurance, it is illegal not to have.

However, homeowners insurance is a different story. There is no law requiring home insurance if you own your home/have no mortgage. This basically means that you own your home, therefore you are accepting the cost of the risk should something happen. In other words, you are self-insuring your property. Anything that happens to damage your home would be replaced with funds straight out of your pocket; no help from an insurance company.

Choosing not to have home insurance is not a quick and easy decision to make. If you’ve just paid off your home, it may seem really tempting to knock off another bill by not renewing your insurance. Take into consideration what exactly home insurance covers before deciding against a policy.

• Some things are beyond your control. Fire, hail, hurricane; depending on your coverage, home insurance covers losses due to these natural disasters.
• There are bad people in this world who do awful things, even to good people. The things you own are valuable–both sentimentally and financially. If a thief takes these things, insurance generally covers up to a set limit for these items.
• You become liable for your guests if they are on your property. Things happen. You would be responsible for your friend’s injuries if something were to happen at your home.
• Home insurance covers a wide array of other miscellaneous instances as well.

You must be honest with yourself about your financial stability. Can you really afford if one of these scenarios were to happen to you? Say there’s an injury or you need a new roof. This can cost tens of thousands of dollars, which is much less than a couple hundred dollars a month for a homeowners policy (which will pay out on a claim so you don’t have to). In the end, saving money on home insurance isn’t saving money at all if something goes wrong. Having home insurance is like the little piggy that built his house of bricks; strong and supported.

By: KayLynn P.